Roy Hodgson will effectively end Rio Ferdinand’s England career by not picking him for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers, The Sun claim.
The Manchester United defender was omitted from the Three Lions’ Euro 2012 squad, with it being believed that Ferdinand was not included due to personal issues with John Terry.
However, after Terry’s retirement from international football it was rumoured that Ferdinand could well be part of the England set-up once more in their bid to qualify for the 2014 World Cup in Brazil.
With games against San Marino and Poland in October, it is believed that Ferdinand will not be included in Hodgson’s contingent for the fixtures, with the coach preferring to select younger players.
England coach Gary Neville has recently stated that Ferdinand should not be part of Hodgson plans due to his age, and as such any omission could well force the United centre-half to hang up his international boots.
Meanwhile, Mirror Football indicate that Hodgson told fellow travellers on a London underground train that Ferdinand would not be selected for the upcoming games.
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Liverpool are yet to confirm their capture of Loic Remy this summer from QPR, but Arsenal’s discontinued interest in the striker spells positive signs for Lukas Podolski for the season ahead.
Podolski’s future during the second half of last season was uncertain. The German forward was out of the side after returning from injury, with Arsene Wenger regularly overlooking the 29-year-old, even as an option from the bench. A move back to Germany was mooted, with Schalke said to be interested.
But off the back of a World Cup win, where, admittedly, Podolski was again a peripheral figure, and now a sharp upturn in positive feeling around Arsenal, Wenger may just be preparing to hang on to the forward, who has developed a notable cult following among supporters.
Podolski is good for the dressing room too, where his mood never seems to waver, even amid struggles for regular football. And make no mistake, the Polish-born German international isn’t just a lovable mascot, he’s the most clinical finisher at the club, even after the signing of Alexis Sanchez from Barcelona. He may not tick the boxes Wenger deems necessary to play as a lone striker at the Emirates, but Podolski nevertheless holds plenty of qualities worth hanging on to.
And had the club opted to move ahead with Remy’s signing, with the Frenchman heavily linked with a move to north London, it would surely have spelt the end of Podolski’s time with the club. Wenger is known for his preference of a streamlined squad, and both forwards would, more than likely, fill the same role in the squad.
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Arsenal’s halted interest in Remy also leaves an opening for Costa Rican forward Joel Campbell to stick around for the upcoming season. Podolski and Remy could have been switched, but the depth issue would have remained the same. Instead, Campbell is available to add further quality to a side in need of strengthening, not just in bodies but in quick, capable and versatile forwards.
Campbell’s exploits with his national side at the World Cup may have played an important part in Wenger’s rethinking and ultimate reluctance to move on Remy’s reported wage demands. Campbell is evidently good enough to stand up to high quality opposition and can be of great use over the next 12 months.
But snubbing a move for Remy also makes financial sense, regardless of the club’s healthy financial state at this time. He wouldn’t have offered anything greater than what Arsenal currently have on the books. His pace and finishing ability is on hand in either Campbell or Podolski, while funds can be focused on rebuilding in other areas of the team, namely the centre of midfield and defence.
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It would be ambitious to say Arsenal don’t need another striker. The addition of Alexis and the returning Theo Walcott will do much for what was an uninspiring and oft-misfiring forward line last season, but another major star wouldn’t go amiss, something Remy evidently isn’t.
With Wenger being far from the type to spend heavily on two players who can occupy the same position, his faith looks to be placed in players who could have found themselves elsewhere this season. For Podolski at the very least, Remy’s move to Liverpool will be a welcome sign for those who still wish to see the German international play his football in north London.
Loic Remy is Newcastle’s preferred transfer target should Demba Ba leave Tyneside in January.
Having failed to agree a new contract with Ba, Newcastle boss Alan Pardew is not willing to leave his squad short in attack, and Marseille striker Remy is now the frontrunner for a transfer to St James’ Park, The Northern Echo reports.
The French international’s earnings would fit in to the club’s strict wage structure and not cost beyond the sort of figures they are looking to spend.
Although the 25-year-old is valued in excess of £13m, Marseille are willing to lower their asking price if an agreement can be reached over a part-exchange deal.
Magpies winger and fellow Frenchman Gabriel Obertan has been touted as the player to form part of any player-plus-cash deal, meaning that Newcastle would have to pay around £10m for Marseille’s talisman.
Remy has won 17 caps for France and scored 27 times in his 68 appearances since moving from Nice two years ago, but he has fallen out of favour at the Stade Velodrome this season.
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In an ideal situation Pardew would successfully convince Ba to sign a new deal at St James’ Park and then focus on investing in other areas, as the Toon’s manager hopes to avoid a repeat of January 2011, when Andy Carroll was sold without being replaced:
“It is a difficult window, but I think we would like to get – definitely – one player in and not lose anybody. It could be that we lose a player, you never know.”
Brendan Rodgers is focusing purely on Liverpool FC’s Europa League clash ahead of the weekend’s Merseyside derby.
The Reds play Russian outfit Anzhi Makhachkala and must avoid defeat if they are to keep their hopes of qualifying for the knockout stages of the Europa League alive.
Group A is currently lead by tonight’s visitors to Anfield and after a 3-2 defeat against Italian side Udinese, Liverpool are on the brink of elimination.
Rodgers is set to go all out and despite hosting Everton at the weekend, both Suarez and Gerrard are expected to play in the European competition for the first time this season.
“Everton V Liverpool is a massive game but it hasn’t been talked about. We are just purely talking about the game against Anzhi,” Liverpool Assistant Coach Colin Pascoe told the Liverpool Post.
“We are looking at a lot of factors. We have a lot of games coming up. Anzhi then Everton, then Swansea, Newcastle, Anzhi again and then Chelsea.
“We are trying to mix it up because we know everyone can’t play every game.”
The first choice centre-back pairing of Daniel Agger and Martin Skrtel are expected to play, with Brad Jones, who played against Reading at the weekend due to the injury of first choice keeper Pepe Reina, expected to be in goal once again.
Despite the importance of the match, Liverpool are also expected to field some youngsters and fringe players including the likes of Jack Robinson, Jordan Henderson, Ousamme Aissaidi and Samed Yesil.
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“The young kids play with freedom. Raheem (Sterling), Andre (Wisdom) and Suso probably wouldn’t have had a chance if we’d bought other players in, but that’s history now and they’ve come in and performed unbelievably.”
With strong rumours that a final decision has been made on the stadium issue over at Liverpool, it is thought that after months of dithering over the matter, that John W. Henry is said to be coming to the conclusion, much like he did with the Boston Red Sox, that staying put at Anfield and redeveloping the site there instead of a full scale move to another site is the play to make, but is this in the best interests of the club?
The report published in the Daily Mail a few days ago states that: “Detailed plans are in place for a phased expansion of the Main Stand and then the Anfield Road stand. The work is expected to cost about £150 million, a huge saving on the estimated £400m that a new stadium in Stanley Park would cost, although an estimated £50m has been spent by the club on designs and planning for a new stadium.”
This was backed up even further by a Liverpool council spokesperson, who have worked with the club closely for years on how best to resolve not only Liverpool’s, but Everton’s future homes, had this to say on the matter, with an announcement thought to be imminent: “It does seem to be the case that the club have decided to stay at Anfield and that Liverpool officials are preparing to confirm the decision.” But is it the best move for the club?
Well the answer to that one, in the short-term at least, is an overwhelming yes. Match-day revenues at the club have long been a source of frustration by the hierarchy at the club and even though they are said to have made £1.5m from the game at the weekend at Anfield, Manchester United are set to bring in double that for the game at the 75, 765-seater stadium at Old Trafford. When you add that number up across the whole season, with league games alone, that comes to £38.5m that they are missing out on. The new site would see Anfield turned into a 60,000-seater stadium, up from the current 45,000, with 7,000 of those reserved for corporate seating at a cost of £150m.
It’s a sad indictment at the way the game is heading and at times these days supporters are treated more like customers rather than the life-blood of the club, but since football cross over from a sport into a fully-fledged entertainment business, the trend was bound to happen. There’s also the knowledge that if every other club is doing, particularly your rivals, why run the risk of falling further behind financially due to principle in a game that increasingly is starting to be run without it.
The breakthrough comes as the council’s director for regeneration Mark Kitts intimated that homes would be given “an open market valuation” – which he suggested could be upgraded to reflect an area in better condition – plus a 10% “home loss payment” and removal costs and matters are eased even further by the fact that the club will not have to negotiate directly with residents or buy their houses,with the council stepping in to perform an arbitrary role. The council has the option of applying for compulsory purchase powers which would force residents to sell, if necessary, but the added 10% bonus on top of many homes receiving as close to their market value as you’re likely to get in today’s economic climate appears to have smoothed things over to an extent.
Building a new stadium would be fraught with risks and most importantly, would have to comply with the strict Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules which are coming into effect at the start of next season and after nearly 15 years of stagnation over the issue, the time for a move appears to have passed. Getting this call right is a huge decision and one that could have repercussions on the club’s long-term future for decades to come and the sensible approach appears to be erring on the side of caution and maximising the current’ sites potential. Manchester United make on average from match-day income 108m per year, Arsenal 93m, Chelsea 67m while Liverpool bring up the rear on 40m, so a decision has to be made and soon, but it has to be the right one for the club going forward.
The club’s owner John W.Henry stated in a letter to The Anfield Wrap back in June: “A long-term myth has existed about the financial impact of a new stadium for Liverpool. Maybe it became a good reason for selling the club at one point. Whatever the reason, a belief has grown that Liverpool FC must have a new stadium to compete with United, Arsenal and others. No one has ever addressed whether or not a new stadium is rational. New stadiums that are publicly financed make sense for clubs. I’ve never heard of a club turning down a publicly financed stadium. But privately carrying new stadiums is an enormous challenge. Arsenal is centered in a very wealthy city with a metropolitan population of approximately 14 million people. They did a tremendous job of carrying it off on a number of levels. But how many new football stadiums with more than 30,000 seats have been built in the UK over the past decade or so? I’m sure every club would like to move to a new facility.
“Can Liverpool as a community afford Chelsea or Arsenal prices? No.”It is often said that for Liverpool to compete in match-day revenue with United, Arsenal and Chelsea, we need a new stadium. But you can see that the £50 or £60 million differences stem as much from revenue per seat as from the number of seats. Even if Liverpool were able to get to 60,000 seats, there would have to be an increase from £900 to £1550 in revenue per seat as well to catch Arsenal. “If Anfield yielded £1550 per seat, without adding seats, LFC match-day revenue would rise from £41M to £71M. That would be the same as building a new stadium with 60,000 seats or increasing seating at Anfield and increasing revenue per seat to £1170.
“Building new or refurbishing Anfield is going to lead to an increase from £40M of match-day revenue to perhaps £60-70M if you don’t factor in debt service. That would certainly help, but it’s just one component of LFC long-term fortunes. This will be principally driven financially by our commercial strengths globally.”
Henry appears to be that rare breed of owner in football that actually ‘get’s’ his local community to an extent. There’s simply no point in building a new stadium or ramping up ticket prices to such an extent that you alienate the community you purport to represent. There’s a clear difference in expendable income between London and Liverpool, so why try and pretend that it doesn’t exist in the first place? At the moment, Anfield may have increasingly become awash with what we shall politely call ‘tourist fans’, but that is what the 7,000 seats being created are for, while there will be an extra 8,000 for regular punters. On the face of it, it looks a decent compromise.
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You sense that Henry is extremely mindful of tinkering too much with the ground at the risk of losing some of its famous atmosphere and while the process to get to this point may have been frustratingly slow at times, it at least looks like it’s heading towards a logical and fiscally-responsible conclusion.
It’s far from ideal and Henry’s words imply that there’s already a tacit acceptance that they will never be able to keep up with the match-day incomes of both Arsenal and Manchester United, but the club have improved immeasurably in marketing themselves to a worldwide audience and in truth, that’s where the real big bucks lie these days. Thankfully, it’s not quite another ‘spade in the ground’ moment, but it’s certainly in the best interests of the club in not only short, but also the long-term.
Crystal Palace co-chairman Steve Browett has insisted that talented youngster Wilfried Zaha is not for sale.
The skilful attacker has been heavily linked with a move to Arsenal, who are reported to have identified the prospect as a potential replacement for Theo Walcott, who may leave north London after his contract expires next summer.
With Liverpool, Tottenham and Manchester City all linked with a move for Zaha in the press of late also, it looked as though the Championship side could lose their prize asset.
However, Browett has eased fans’ worries by stating that the Eagles would not consider selling Zaha to one of the Premier League big boys.
“I can assure you that Wilfried is not ‘for sale’,” the chief commented on a fan’s forum, published in The Guardian.
“We hope that he’ll be playing Premier League football next season. For us. Even if that doesn’t happen, he’s only 19 and still learning his trade in surroundings where he is comfortable and happy. He’s on a five-year contract and we really don’t need the money.
“The four of us bought the club so that we could enjoy watching Palace play football, not to cash in as soon as the moneybags clubs come waving their cheque books. I hope that’s clear enough.
“PS – and if he [Zaha] keeps developing the way he has so far you’ll be reading plenty more rubbish in the Sunday papers,” he concluded.
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Zaha has scored four goals in his last two games, and has represented England at under-21 level four times.
Frank Lampard has stated that he is starting to think about his life after he retires from professional football, and would relish the opportunity to be Chelsea’s manager.
The ageing midfielder is coming to the end of a stellar career, and has confessed that he would love to coach the side he current plays for.
“I am thinking about my coaching badges now but there is only one club I want to manage,” the England international told The Sun.
“I know it might sound a bit big-headed or selfish but I wouldn’t want to go through ‘showing myself’ with a lower club.
“Although I would never expect to walk into a position such as the Chelsea manager, this is the only club I’d want to manage.
“I’d love to have a crack at it but I’d want to do it well.
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“I wouldn’t want the supporters to forget everything I’ve tried to do as a player because I can’t manage the team,” he concluded.
Theo Walcott joined Everton from Arsenal during the January transfer window, and the attacker impressed for the Toffees in the second half of the campaign.
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Walcott managed over 100 goals during his time at Arsenal – including 19 during the 2016-17 season – but left the Emirates Stadium for Everton in early 2018.
The Englishman managed three goals and three assists in the Premier League after joining Everton, and certainly captured the imagination of the club’s supporters.
Last season was difficult for Everton when considering the timing of Ronald Koeman’s departure, and indeed the struggles of Sam Allardyce.
Marco Silva is now in position as head coach, however, and there is certainly a lot for the Everton supporters to be excited about entering the new season.
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Walcott knows what to say when it comes to winning over the Everton fans, and a number have been on social media paying tribute to the 29-year-old.
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Indeed, Walcott has been tipped to enjoy a strong campaign for his Merseyside club next term.
A selection of the Twitter reaction from the Everton supporters can be seen below:
West Ham are still waiting to find out the full damage done to three injured stars who had to pull out of yesterday’s win over Newcastle.
George McCartney seems to be the most serious case, after coming off with an injury to his groin. Matt Jarvis suffered a tight thigh and Yossi Benayoun injured his knee after him and Jonas Gutierrez got involved in a tackle which also sidelined him.
Sam Allardyce, following the match, said: “We don’t play until next Monday so we hope that’s enough time. George is probably the most serious because it looks like he has pulled a groin muscle.”
Ricardo Vaz Te, Alou Diarra and Jack Collyson are already out due to long-term injury, and he will surely be hoping he does not have to add three more players to the list of such serious injuries.
He said to West Ham’s official website: “The three injuries and three changes we had to make never detracted from the performance, which was even more pleasing. Obviously it’s disappointing when we get the injuries but to see three players come on and still perform was pleasing. It’s a good job we’ve got Guy Demel, Gary O’Neil and Modibo Maiga back as the bench has been lightweight recently. It shows how important substitutes are as you have to have a strong bench in this league. “
West Ham play Stoke in a Premier League clash next Monday.
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West Ham won yesterday’s game 1-0. Former Newcastle player Kevin Nolan scored the winner in the first half.
Manchester United are primed and ready to pounce if Juventus do not take up their option to sign Douglas Costa from Bayern Munich, according to the Sun.
The 27-year-old is superior to all of Jose Mourinho’s current right-wing options and would go straight into the first team, replacing academy graduate Jesse Lingard.
What’s the story, then?
The Sun claim that Juventus, with whom Costa has just spent the season on loan, have an option to buy the Brazilian for £33m this summer but may spurn the opportunity in pursuit of spending big on an elite central midfielder.
In that event, they report that United are ready to offer Bayern, Costa’s parent club, over double the fee agreed with Juve – £79m – to bring the wideman to Old Trafford this summer.
The report also says that United and Juve’s transfer business is uncannily intertwined. Reds full-back Matteo Darmian is set to join the Italian giants, who want to secure a return for Paul Pogba.
Their other central midfield target is Sergej Milinkovic-Savic who is reportedly subject of interest from United also, and could raise the funds to sign a central midfielder via the sale of left-back Alex Sandro, who Mourinho is also sniffing around.
Costa is the perfect right-winger for United
United’s right wing options are currently Juan Mata – who is a number 10 bizarrely converted to a wideman despite not having the legs – Jesse Lingard, who has pace and energy but looks more comfortable through the middle and lacks consistency, or an awkward crowbarring of Alexis Sanchez, Marcus Rashford or Anthony Martial – all more comfortable operating from the left.
Costa is a better bet than all of them. He is an outstanding dribbler, capable of embarrassing even Europe’s elite defenders and would add genuine pace and width to this United setup.
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£79m is steep, and it is especially perplexing that United would go in that high when Juve have £33m agreed already but potentially the closeness of the two club’s transfer dealings can help a deal get over the line.